| Birding
On My Own - Australia and New Zealand 2002 Emmalee Tarry |
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South
Island I arrived in Christchurch in early November. After a day in the city, I drove south following the coast road to Omaru, Dunedin. and Invercargill. I went to Bluff and took the ferry to Stewart Island. On return from Stewart Island I went west and north to Te Anau, Milford Sound, Queenstown and down to the tropical west coast to visit Franz Josef, Hokitika and Greymouth. I returned to the east coast over the mountains by way of Arthur's pass to Hanmer Spring and Kaikoura. After a few days in Kaikoura, I drove to Picton to take the ferry to Wellington on the north island. |
At the Christchurch airport, I picked up my car from EZi Rental Cars and drove to downtown Christchurch to find the YHA. Finding the downtown YHA proved difficult so I ended up at the Alcala Motor Lodge for NZ$80 per night. There are actually two YHA's in Christchurch. The easier one to find is right across from the museum and there is limited parking. The city center YHA is on a very busy street has no parking.
The next morning I went to the Botanical Gardens in Hagley Park and parked the car. I toured the gardens reacquainting myself with the common garden birds of New Zealand such as Common Blackbird, Chaffinch, Song Thrush, Grey Teal, Mallard, Greenfinch and Silvereyes.
In the wintergarden there was a display of air plants Tillandsia in the Bromeliad Family which includes Spanish moss. An Echnida ambled slowly across the garden trailing a line of photographers.
At the edge of the botanical gardens is the Canterbury Museum. Admission NZ$5 donation. Birders will find this museum most interesting. There is a display of skeletons of the eleven known species of Moas. The Moas were a group of large flightless birds that flourished on the island until the Maori arrived. The Maoris built their culture on exploiting the Moa. They ate eggs and meat, used the egg shells for water vessels, feathers for decoration, and made tools from the bones. The Moas ranged in size from 1 to 3 meters. As the Maori population grew, they put more and more pressure on the Moas and finally drove them to extinction 500 years ago. The skeletons and feathers from costumes are as close as you can get to seeing a real Moa.
The museum has wonderful exhibits of Maori culture and tools. Bird Hall exhibits Albatross and most of the birds of New Zealand. I was also enchanted by a movie made by the captain of a Clipper Ship rounding the horn in 1929.
Across the street I visited Rutherford's Den. This was the first laboratory of Ernest Rutherford who won Nobel Prize for splitting the atom. He was actually at Canterbury, England when he won the Nobel Prize, but grew up and started his career in Christchurch. The old classroom where he used to teach is open and you can listen to a recording of a reenactment of one of his lectures.
Cathedral Square is a gathering place. I watched a chess game and wandered in The Church of England Cathedral for which the square is named.
In the evening I went shopping at a discount store and bought a sheet, pillow slip and an inside sleeping bag. This will enable me to stay in cabins in campgrounds and will be useful at hostels which do not provide sheets and bedding.
| Akaroa Akaroa is 75 Km south of Christchurch at the far end of the Banks Peninsula. The bay is an old volcano crater open on one side to the sea. I took the 11 AM Canterbury Cat cruise. It was quite rough on the sea so the boat did not go outside the bay. We saw two White-flippered Little Penguins a subspecies of Little Penguin and several Hector's Dolphins, a small dolphin with a rounded dorsal fin. The boat went very close to cliff nest of Spotted Shags. |
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Timaru Wetlands
At Timaru I stopped along the road at the Timaru Wetlands. I could find no entry into this area so scoped from the gate. There was a walker and biker inside the fence so there must be some way to get in. Perhaps I should not have been so intimidated by the no trespassing sign on the gate. From the gate I saw Paradise Shelduck, Pied Stilt, Spur-winged Plover, Pied Oystercatcher, Black-backed Gull ,Yellowhammer ,and Purple Swamphen.
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